The present invention relates to a method for controlling several agricultural machine systems during operation on a territory, with which, based on a reference line, an optimized route for working the territory is determined for the particular machine system, then the particular machine system is driven along this route.
The present invention also relates to a corresponding control system for controlling several agricultural machine systems.
Given that the performance of agricultural machine systems, i.e., working vehicles such as combine harvesters or forage harvesters, and tractors with various attachments such as sowing machines, fertilizer spreaders, spraying devices, impellers and swathers, etc., has increased continually, the planning of the working sequence has also become increasingly important in recent years. For specific applications, harvesting in particular, the amount of time available within which work can be carried out is usually limited, usually due to the weather, and this window of time is often not used in an optimal manner due to lack of resource planning. Precise resource planning is also important in order to attain the theoretically maximum possible performance of the machines in practical application.
To attain this goal of an optimized application of effort, route planning systems and route planning methods were developed, which are used to determine an optimized route for working a territory, e.g., a certain field, for the particular machine system. The particular machine system can then be driven along this route—depending on the configuration of the machine system—either fully automatically, i.e., using automatic steering, semi-automatically, or manually with support from a suitable display device, which the driver uses to keep the vehicle on a virtual driving line. Route planning systems of this type and automatic steering systems typically function using satellite-based navigation devices, e.g., GPS receivers (GPS=Global Positioning System). Various correction procedures are used to improve accuracy, such as DGPS (differential GPS) for the GPS method.
A route planning system is described, e.g., in EP 0 821 296 A2. Using this system, the edge of the field is driven around with a GPS device, the coordinates of the field contour are recorded, and additional data specific to the working vehicle—the width, in particular—are entered. Using an electronic data processing device, the course of the working route is generated in the form of a digitized working route using a certain computation algorithm, and a certain optimization criterium for the working route is taken into account. Typical optimization criteria can be, e.g., that any auxiliary driving required, such as paths to be driven to turn around at the ends of the field or to refuel a combine harvester, etc., must be kept to a minimum. Another optimization criterium can be that the time required to work a certain field must be kept to a minimum, with the understanding that somewhat longer turnaround paths that can be traversed more quickly because they do not require a change in driving direction must be accommodated. Optimization can also be carried out with regard for several different optimization criteria in order to reach an optimal compromise between the various optimization criteria.
In many cases, agricultural plots are worked by machine systems having different working widths. If the machine systems are new, they often have a built-in, separate, GPS-based route planning and automation system which—based on the dimensions and other basic conditions of the particular machine system—carries out route planning that is tailored to the particular machine system. This requires that every machine system initially determine at least the outer contour of the territory to be worked, e.g., by driving around it once. This type of procedure takes a relatively great deal of time. It is indeed possible to use driving routes already established in entirety by a route planning system for other applications, as described in EP 0 821 296 B1 and DE 10 2004 027 242 1. This is possible, however, only when the machine system is the same, or, at the least, when it is a machine system with the same or very similar working parameters, such as working width, turning radius, etc.